sholio | Happy things in 2011

Happy things in 2011

Now I'm feeling vaguely guilty about my Sanctuary post. I didn't mean to dump on the poor show quite that hard. (No hard feelings, Sanctuary fans? I haven't given up yet ...)

Besides, talking about how much I didn't like something is nowhere near as much fun as dwelling on the things I like.

So - the small-but-growing list of fannish things that I am looking forward to in 2011:

- Avatar: Legend of Korra. TOP OF THE LIST BECAUSE OMG WAAAAANT.
- New Jim Butcher book! (I'm looking forward to this so much I can't even say. I hope it doesn't disappoint.)
- New season of Being Human. Squee! I didn't enjoy the second nearly as much as the first, but they have a really fascinating setup going into series 3 and I'm really looking forward to it.
- New season of Doctor Who; I am enjoying Moffat's run way more than I thought I would from the first couple of episodes, and I'm eager to see Amy and Rory again!

What are you looking forward to? (No big spoilers, please, if possible.)

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Aw, it just let us excitedly flail at you! No worries - I've run into a lot of people dumping on Sanctuary, and you were WAY kinder than most. And I can always hope it'll grow on you :)

Korra is coming out this year? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
(I'm still really not sure what I think about S2 of Being Human - which really makes me wonder what they're doing to do for S3)

I'm.....well, I'm looking forward to Sanctuary. And Legend of Korra, since apparently that's coming out. And...um...okay, I'm barely on top of what's NOW much less what's coming.

Fall 2011 is what I've been hearing for Korra. EEEEEEEEEEE right back at you! *bounces*

S2 of Being Human really didn't do it for me. But I have high hopes for S3, and I'm not even really sure why -- I don't have spoilers or anything; I just feel like they set up potential plot threads that might really hit my fannish sweet spots in the comic season. (Of course, I also had high hopes for S2 and was really disappointed, so ... we'll see, I guess.)

Regarding Sanctuary, and people dumping on it ... I wonder if fandom in general is getting more with the critical meta and less with the squee, or if it just seems that way? Or maybe I'm just seeing it more? I don't want to make it sound like a bad thing; you know I don't think so, and also, I've learned a ton about writing from watching other people dissect the writing flaws on TV and comics and things. But there are times when I get into something new and just want to go find the squee posts, and they're rather hard to find ... It just seems like it's pretty rare to see people going Yay! Squee! about a thing without also talking about its flaws.

(In other words, THE ENTIRE INTERNET IS NOT CATERING TO MY NEEDS. *g*)

oh, man, and I just finshed A:tlA so I am TOTALLY READY FOR KORRA!

Being Human...yeah. Season 2 was so very different from season 1 and was darker and bloodier than I wanted, with less goofy fun for balance. I'm hoping the new season is closer to S1, but we'll see what they do. (at the same time, I think S2 was largely good storytelling it just...I'm kinda critical of it.)

Sanctuary...I...the cynical part of me says that most of the people I've seen dumping on it (and there isn't so much anymore - people either like it or aren't watching, by now) have been hardcore Jack/Daniel and/or John/Rodney fans from the gateverse and I cynically think it's either leftover Sam resentment or, more generally, the fact that the show doesn't have a clear slash pairing (which is funny given how male-dominated the characters/cast are, which is a RANT I have building inside me). I mean, I've seen fandom go nuts over shows and movies of, in my opinion, much worse quality.

But, yeah, I hear you about sometimes just wanted the Squee. I think that's mostly how I've been interacting with Avatar.

(In other words, THE ENTIRE INTERNET IS NOT CATERING TO MY NEEDS. *g*)

HOW DARE IT!??!?!?

Sanctuary...I...the cynical part of me says that most of the people I've seen dumping on it (and there isn't so much anymore - people either like it or aren't watching, by now) have been hardcore Jack/Daniel and/or John/Rodney fans from the gateverse and I cynically think it's either leftover Sam resentment or, more generally, the fact that the show doesn't have a clear slash pairing (which is funny given how male-dominated the characters/cast are, which is a RANT I have building inside me). I mean, I've seen fandom go nuts over shows and movies of, in my opinion, much worse quality.

I saw your mention of the show not passing the Bechdel test, and I hope you do write that post! :D Much as I love the guys and the buddy pairs on so many of my shows, I am getting really fed up with the shows and the fandoms being all about the dudes. Which was actually something I'd had high hopes for with Sanctuary, what with Amanda being involved in the production, and having multiple women in the cast. Gloom! I mean, it's not that I want one or the other, to the exclusion of all else -- I want both. There's plenty of room in fandom and in canon for well-developed women with powerful relationships with each other and guys with the same. It annoys me that we only seem to get the latter in most cases.

And ... I can see from whence your cynicism stems. *g* I think in general it's pretty rare for shows without a well-defined slash pairing to get a really positive fannish reception. Weirdly, that's even true on the gen side. There are certainly exceptions -- X-Files is a biggie that springs to mind. And anime fandom seems to work in a whole different way. But in Western media fandom ... yeah. I feel a little ungrateful complaining about it because, well, usually I'm still getting what I want out of it, because while I don't go for slash in general, I do go for those sorts of character relationships (as you know). But I see the pattern. And it bothers me. It's been bothering me more, I guess, as my fannish gears have been shifting into more of a preference for ensemble casts and multiple character relationships within the same show. (I keep wanting to do a post about this; I have no idea how much my shifting fannish attitude has been directly influenced by fandom's hive-mind focus on the "two slashy guys" shows, but I do think it's a factor.)

I saw your mention of the show not passing the Bechdel test, and I hope you do write that post!

I mean, the short version (trying to be vague to avoid spoilers) is that it's this show with one of the first female executive producers, with a really kick-ass main female character who gets to have a lot of talent and wear a lot of hats, but also have weaknesses and history and things which make her dimensional. And...that's kinda it. 90% of the times Helen interacts with anyone, it's a man. Her past doesn't appear to involve women in any way - we know her father used her mother's birthday as his favorite password, indicating he loved her, but that's all we know about her mother. Most of the other Sanctuary heads, and all the ones we actually see beyond video conference screens, are male. The few times Helen talks about old friends or meeting up with someone, it's almost always a man. We get a handful of one-shot female characters, some of whom are interesting, throughout the show, but almost none of them last more than an episode, and a large percentage end up either evil or dead or both. Yes, there's Ashley (and Helen-Ashley develops into one of my favorite ever onscreen mother-daughter relationships (you really don't get many of those on tv)) and later Kate as main characters, but you see Helen interacting with the men much more often, with the other women involved in the opposite storyline.

Mostly it drives me crazy that the show gets some things So Very Right and in other ways fails spectacularly. I'm also consistently praying for an episode with flashbacks to Helen totally bonding with Amelia Earhart. Just because.

Yeah. Fandom in general will tolerate a lot if there are two white men it finds attractive who interact for at least a few minutes. *ahem* Not that I'm cynical. Or occasionally guilty.

I guess, as my fannish gears have been shifting into more of a preference for ensemble casts and multiple character relationships within the same show.

Huh, in that case Sanctuary *might* grow to work for you. Maybe. It's certainly designed around that concept, and increasingly good at it.

Huh, in that case Sanctuary *might* grow to work for you. Maybe. It's certainly designed around that concept, and increasingly good at it.

Well, I don't want to give the impression that I only ever watch or read things that hit my fannish sweet spots. Admittedly I'm more likely to fan on them if there's something in there that piques my fangirl interest, but the stuff I like is all over the map; we just got done watching "Justified", for example, and I absolutely loved it -- talk about good writing -- although it doesn't make me fansquee at all. (Besides, the Justified fandom ... holy FRICK. Admittedly my only exposure to it is what I've come across in scanning people's Yuletide letters, but the general impression I've gotten so far is that the most popular character with fans, the one that makes everyone squee and go "x is so cool!" ... is a skinhead with White Power tattoos whose first act in the show is shooting a rocket launcher into a church. I plan to stay FAAAAR away from Justified fandom if I can help it.)

ANYWAY. I do plan to go ahead and give it a chance with a few more episodes, at least! (Helen bonding with Amelia Earhart -- OMG YES! Someday I need to go ahead and finish this story I started writing one time in which Amelia Earhart discovers that she's immortal when she has her infamous crash in the Pacific and ends up wandering around the world under a series of different pseudonyms because she likes not being famous anymore. I always liked the idea but I never could make a story out of it.)

Oh, I didn't think that. But we have things that draw us to stories and something that hits your particular buttons is more likely to draw you in, you know? And it's pretty common to have multiple buttons, I think (I mean, trying to find a connection between what makes me squee is hard, even harder trying to find the common thread to what makes me fannish squee)

is a skinhead with White Power tattoos whose first act in the show is shooting a rocket launcher into a church

...
...
...
um
....moving on...

Helen bonding with Amelia Earhart -- OMG YES!

Wouldn't it be awesome? I feel like there's either a reference at some point or a side comment in an interview or something.

Someday I need to go ahead and finish this story I started writing one time in which Amelia Earhart discovers that she's immortal when she has her infamous crash in the Pacific and ends up wandering around the world under a series of different pseudonyms because she likes not being famous anymore.

OMG THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! I would read the HELL out of that. Actually, that could make a really cool comic book.

wonder if fandom in general is getting more with the critical meta and less with the squee, or if it just seems that way?
Highjacking: I can't speak for THE ENTIRE INTERNET, but I learned (both in school and by self-teaching) how to criticize; I never learned how to squee, and I wasn't in any squeeing fannish spaces. (I'm new to fandom, and I got here via Television without Pity, which ... can we say harsh?) That's why I'm trying to post the few times I actually notice myself being delighted by things, especially media; I'm trying to teach myself the positive side of things.

Which is hard. I'm down on "Doctor Who" lately, sadly. But Korra — yay!!

Yeah, and now that you say that, I'm recalling my formative fannish experiences on comics message boards, which were .... pretty much TWoP levels of critical, I think. Plus the constant flame wars. Plus the constant flame wars with the creators, who are just as wanky as the fans if not more so. So, um, yeah, you're right -- it totally depends on what fannish spaces one comes from.

Firefly! I´ll hopefully get the DVD set either for Christmas or for my birthday and I´m really looking forward to watching it. (If it is as awesome as everyone says it is I should probably wait until the January exams are over, though...)

More One Piece! The year has 52 weeks, with breaks that makes about 45 new chapters. So they should get to the next island and start even more adventures! And now they have the BEST PET EVER.

Legend of Korra. Want. Have not yet figured out how I´m going to get it, but I will. I´m determined. And I´ll finish watching s1 of A:TLA, because somehow I never did. Maybe.

I´m also looking forward to next year´s genficathon. This year I had so much fun and I wrote a fic I´m really proud of. Apparently I need some sort of deadline/prompt to motivate myself, but I don´t feel confident enough to do exchange ficathons. The genficathon is perfect. :)

Firefly! I hope you like it! I think it's my favorite of the things Joss Whedon has done. "Losers and misfits, finding each other" is just such a bulletproof kink for me, and that show hits it hard.

I need to get caught up on One Piece! My interest in it sort of waxes and wanes, and I'm still struggling with the time skip. But yes, must get caught up.

And I´ll finish watching s1 of A:TLA, because somehow I never did. Maybe.

Er ... did you watch the rest of it, but not season one? Or is season one as far as you've gotten? (Because ... you probably shouldn't watch Korra before watching A:TLA ... XD)

And regarding the genficathon ... thank you so much! :) This is going to be its fourth year; I can hardly believe it.

I started watching A:TLA with the episode Toph joined, and after that episodes without Toph seemed inevitably lacking. Months later I started season one and liked it (Iroh!), but then the source I got the episodes from disappeared and I never got around to finding another one.

I´m so glad you´re doing the genficathon again. I was a tiny little bit concerned because it seemed it had less and less stories each year, but quality over quantity, right? :)

Dr. Who Christmas special! Okay, yes, it's still in this year, but it's close to 2011. We can finally watch it on TV instead of waiting for it to come out on DVD. And new Dr. Who, of course. Eleven has grown on me ;)

Yes, new Dresden Files! I currently have Changes and am still awaiting Side Jobs. The problem is that I'm having trouble figuring out when to read, because I know that once I get into the books I won't be able to put them down.

New white Collar eps!

Gen ficathon :D

The non-kink gen comment meme I have planned for January. Speaking of which, I need to look up a few kink prompts *shudders*

I'm also hoping to have my original story and NaNo story finished sometime within the next year.

Oh right, the Doctor Who Christmas special! Yeah, I'm looking forward to that, too. :D

And, oh, regarding comment memes, I'm thinking that when I get done with my December holiday ficathon stories, I might do a Stargate h/c comment meme here, with anon commenting on; I've been considering it, but didn't really want to distract myself too much before my commitments were done!

That would be fun :D

Hmmm, things I'm looking forward to?

OMG NEW TORCHWOOD. That, most of all.

Doctor Who, of course, starting with the Christmas Special.

Being Human ... hm, I'm not sure. I hope the third series will be more to my liking again too. I liked a lot of things about the second, but there was something fundamental missing for me. The tight focus on the trio, I suppose.

... and I can't think of anything else right now. *ponders*

I'd actually completely forgot that there will be more Torchwood. I'm ... kind of on the fence about it? But I'm curious what they're going to do with it.

YAY NEW DOCTOR WHO!

I loved Children of Earth so, so much - every single thing about it was like it was made for me. So I have high hopes, LOL.

I enjoyed CoE as well (thus making us nearly alone in fandom *clings to you*) but, for me, it really felt like an end -- it didn't leave me wanting more so much as just feeling like it would be a great way for the show to ride off into the sunset. By this point I'm sort of wary at what else they might do ... I really hated a lot of things about the end of season two, but CoE largely redeemed the series for me, and I'm kinda worried about what the next season might leave me feeling about it!

Very true about being nearly alone, although thankfully I know some people who share my opinion. But if I didn't hate the fandom before (and trust me, I did), what went down after CoE would certainly have done it.

I've heard other people say that before, about it feeling like an ending, but it never felt like an end to me. Maybe because Torchwood is first and foremost Jack's story, the same way Doctor Who is the Doctor's, and Jack's story isn't ending. He's hit a low point, but for me that only makes me more eager to see what comes next.

But of course I loved the show before that and have few quibbles with it. And after CoE (which abbreviation I still can't help reading as something else first *headdesk*) the creators have more than earned my trust. Right now I'm not worried at all.

What are you looking forward to?

Warehouse 13 Season 1 is on my Christmas list. I saw an ep of S2 and thought it looked like crazy not-to-be-taken-too-seriously fun! We'll see how I get on with it, but I hope it's all like that ep, 'cos it cracked me up at the end!

I'll be watching ep 10 of SGU tomorrow and then I'm guessing we've got one of those annoying breaks that Syfy insist on doing. But I'm looking forward to more of it (I know you don't like it - let's agree to disagree - I have to admit to being surprised how much S2 has drawn me in!).

Ridiculously excited at getting the A Team movie on DVD, even though I saw it at the cinema and probably won't get around to watching it again for a while. But to have that option is cool - even if I still prefer the TV team to the movie team!

And I'm another one looking forward to the sga gen ficathon! Not sure if I'l be able to participate (I'm hoping so), but still looking forward to it if only to read all the wonderful fic it inspires! *bg*

Edited 2010-12-07 22:15 (UTC)

Warehouse 13 is another show where I watched the first episode and wasn't really interested in continuing. But I've heard that it picks up a bit, so I've been thinking about giving it another try.

And I'm another one looking forward to the sga gen ficathon! Not sure if I'l be able to participate (I'm hoping so), but still looking forward to it if only to read all the wonderful fic it inspires! *bg*

Awww, thank you! :)

Okay, this is kinda funny, given that we've both vented about "Sanctuary", but once you have the characters under your belt (if you stick with it that far), check out The Great Game (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30304). It's a gen friendship (frenemy-ship?) piece, epistolary style, between Nikola and James of the Five. (I use those names so that if you don't know the characters yet, you won't be spoiled.) The writer gets the voices down perfectly, and it's just fun.

Thanks for the rec; I'll be back to check it out later (I haven't seen any more of the show yet).

Things I'm most looking forward to in 2011...hmmmm.

The return of Rizzoli & Isles, Eureka, & Warehouse 13. White Collar to a lesser extent. And of course the continuation of my currently-airing favorites like Chuck, Castle, Fringe, & Hawaii Five-0.

I'm also kinda excited about the show Zorro coming out on DVD at the first of the year. It was a show I watched and loved when I was a kid. I don't know if it'll hold up to the test of time (probably not, actually), but I want to find out. :)

I need to catch up with Doctor Who. I haven't seen anything since Journey's End. To be honest, for some reason I'm having a hard time getting up the enthusiasm to watch the specials, but I think once I got past that, I'd be fine.

I was really meh about Who with the change of Doctors, but after a slow start, I found myself really getting into this season. :D I'm looking forward to more!

Oh, I meant to ask you also...you mentioned Being Human. I was curious whether you were going to check out the Syfy remake that starts airing next month.

You know ... I was all set to hate it on general principles *g*, but checking out their IMDB page, it looks like they've done what I really hoped they'd do and taken the basic idea without trying to make the characters the same. At any rate, they have different names (though it's intriguing how they obviously tried to match the casting of the original), and I think that'll make it easier for me to view them as new characters rather than bastardized versions of the characters I love.

You'd think I'd be easier on remakes/recasting since I'm a STARGATE fan, but it tends to be a hard sell for me. Still, the main appeal of Being Human is mostly the chemistry and adorableness of the cast, and if the remake can match that, then I think they'll have a pretty good shot at being a decent show.

...er, so that's a long way of saying "Yeah, probably at some point." *g*

:) Thanks for indulging my curiosity.

I am so excited about the Dresden Files book! This has been my year of no reading - maybe that can change a bit next year? So definitely Changes, and also the next Scott Lynch!! I may even get my Locke Lamora books from Sweden and give them a re-read before I get Republic of Thieves. (Um. This is where more time would come in handy...)

And I am psyched about the new season of Doctor Who. I love the Doctor and Amy and Rory, and I am so excited about what kind of adventures they might have together.

Finally, the thing I'm looking forward to the most - because that's how madly in love I am right now - is Sherlock. Which is due "autumn 2011", and it's only three (90-minute) episodes, but it makes me so happy to know there will be more!

And, of course, there is always, always One Piece. One Piece and - oh! The Gintama anime is coming back; I really am super excited about that.

But really, I'm being so mono-fannish right now that I have a hard time thinking about anything that's not the Moffat & Gatiss version of Sherlock Holmes.

Oh, oh -- the new Scott Lynch is FINALLY coming out? :D I had stopped even checking for it! YAY!

Maybe by the time the new Sherlock airs I will finally have seen the first season so that I can squee with you! I've been more into ensemble stuff lately, which I think is why I'm having trouble getting myself to watch it. But I love seeing your squee for it on my flist, and eventually I want to join you there! ^_^

And I was just reading your post - you have all kinds of awesome to look forward to!

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Happy things in 2011

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